Manually releasable closure for containers



y 0, 1960 L. H. MERENESS 2,936,095

MANUALLY RELEASABLE CLOSURE FOR CONTAINERS Filed April 15, 1957 FIG-l FIG-2 mmvrm Lowell Mereness BY PEG-3 MANUALLY RELEASABLE CLOSURE FOR CONTAINERS My present invention relates broadly .to containers and closures therefor, and more particularly to containers having manually releasable closures which may not beaccidentally removed. In many relatively thickly populated areas, it is required that refuse be placed in containers which are periodically emptied'into a conveyance and the contents disposed of at a suitable disposal plant or dump. customary for people to store these containers outside at a convenient location for those collecting the refuse disposed therein. Since it is customary to dispose of organic as well as'inorganic materials in these containers, the problem of scavengers opening or overturning the containers to provide access to the contents has become acute. Not only is it very disconcerting to the general populace, but the indiscriminate scattering ofrefuse becomes a health hazard as well.

'I am aware of the fact that this hazard has been recognized'prior to my present invention, and a number of different attempts have been made to provide a suitable manually operable closure fastener for these containers so that even though a scavenger such as a dog may overturn the container, the closure may not be removed and therefore scattering of the contents thereofwill be precluded. However, because of the various weather conditions encountered which for all practical purposes renders them inoperable during freezing weather, and because of the necessity in many instances of using two hands to remove the cover, which obviously is .verylundesirable when one is carrying refuse to deposit injthe container, theyhave not heretofore been found to enjoy wide acceptance by the general public.

:The present invention,-however, seeks to provide a suitable closure fastener for containers which is so disposed that the fastener may be released'and the closure rerhovedwith one hand, and flalso. disposed in such manner-thatev'en thoughthe' container should be overturned, the closure will not release from the container without definite manual exertion so to do.

In addition, it will be noted that the invention comprises a minimum number of parts which are assembled with facility, and therefore one which is not adversely affected by inclement weather conditions to a very great degree.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts:

Figure 1 is a view in elevation showing a container having a closure with my improved fastener thereon;

Figure 2 is a horizontal cross section taken substantially on the plane indicated by line 22 of Figure 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 3 is a lateral cross section taken substantially on the planes indicated by the lines 3-3 of Figure 2 and looking in the direction of the arrows and upon a substantially enlarged scale and having parts broken away for convenience of illustration;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary perspective view showing my .nited States Patent,- I

It is r 2,936,695 Patented May 10, 1960 .2 combined guard and stop rigidly secured to the skirt of the closure; and V 1 I Figure 5 is a vertical fragmentary cross section showing a modified hook means for the closure.

' Referringv now more particularly to the drawing, the numeral 10 indicates in its entirety the container which has a conventional bottom 12 and upwardly divergent side walls 14. The side walls 14 terminate upwardly in an annular peripheral projection or bead 16 which encircles the open upper end or mouth of the container 18. The container 10 is provided with convenient handles 18 to facilitate carrying the container.

' A closure or lid 20 is of conventional construction and has an annular depending skirt 22 which normally terminates in a stiffening bead 24 at its lower edge. The foregoing is a brief description of a conventional container which is commonly termed a garbage can and my inven tion resides in the improvements which are hereinafter more particularly defined. V v

The closure 20 is provided with a conventional handle 26 which is disposed diametrically of the closure 20 and at its center or axis, but closer inspection of Figure 3 will reveal that at one end the handle 26 is provided with an integral upstanding wall 28 which has-an aperture 30 formed therein. Integral with its upper end, the wall 28 is provided with an angular brace bracket 32 which also has an aperture 34 formed therein and disposed in axial alignment with the aperture 30 of the wall 28. At its lower end, the bracket 32 is spot welded or otherwise secured at 36 to the closure 20. It also will be noted that the handle 26 is secured to the closure 20 as by spot welding 36 at both ends of the handle 26. v w A latch bar 38 extends through the apertures 30 and 34-which thus constitutes journals to support saidlatch bar 38 for rectilinear movement. At its inner end, the latch bar 38 is provided with a thumb knob 40 and a compression spring 42 is disposed'in encircling relation to the latch bar 38 and bears against the wall 28 and the thumb knob 40 to yieldably bias the latch bar 38 inwardly toward the center of the closure 20.

At its outer end, the latch bar 38 is bent substantially at a right angle to form a laterally extending arm 44, and the arm 44 is then again bent at substantially a right angle to form a latch 46 which is disposed in spaced parallel relation to the latch bar 38. It will be noted that the angles'between the members 38, 44, and 46 need not be absolute right angles, but considerable deviation therehem will-also function. However, for the best operation of the device, it has been found that the latch member 4 6-shou ld be disposed in substantially parallel relationship to the latch bar 38.

It is to be noted that the skirt 22 has a journal or aperture 48 punched outwardly therethrough, and the latch 46 extends inwardly through this aperture or journal 48. By punching the aperture instead of drilling it, I have provided an-axially elongated journal for the latch 46, and therefore its accidental displacement out of the aperture is precluded.

A U-shaped guard 50 has out turned flanges 52 which are spot welded or otherwise rigidly secured to the skirt 22-with the guard in covering relation to the outer ends of the latch bar 38 and latch 46. The end wall 54 of the guard 50 constitutes a stop against which the arm 44 strikes to limit the outward movement of the latch 46 outwardly through the journal 48.

It will thus be understood that one may grasp the handle 26 with the same hand, press the thumb knob 40 with the thumb to shift the latch bar 38 (as seen in Figure 3) leftwardly, and thus the latch 46 to the dotted line position 46a as shown. The closure 20 is thus released and may be lifted from the container 10.

The closure is provided at the side opposed to the aasaoezs latch 46 with book means 56 which, as seen in Figure 3, are spaced resilient flexible members 58 which are secured, as by riveting, to the inner face of the annular skirt on its lower marginal edge portion, and then extend upwardly and inwardly at 60 toward the center of the closure 20 where they engage under the annular peripheral projection or bead 16 of the container 10.

In Figure I have shown a modified hook means, and this discloses a pair of inwardly disposed rigid projections 62 which may he spot welded or otherwise secured to the skirt 22 to project inwardly under the projection 16. To remove the lid, one need only depress the thumb knob 40 which will remove the latch 46 from under the projection 16, and then the lid may be tilted upwardly on the latch side until the skirt is disposed above the top of the container 10, and then the lid may be slid laterally to remove the hook means 54 from under the projection 16, and thus thelid is free.

In applying the lid with the hook means 54 as shown in Figure 3, the latch may be depressed and the lid forced down straight over the container 10. Such movement will cause the flexible portion 60 to flex inwardly into face to face engagement with the skirt 22, and upon clearing the bead 16, it will snap outwardly, and after the lid is in place, the latch 46, may be allowed to return by spring 42 to the latching position.

Also the latch may be hooked under the edge and then the opposed edge of the lid may be forced down by flexing the portions 60 of the hook means 54 shown in Fig- -ure 3 if desired.

In Figure 4, the hook means 62 are hooked under the projection 16 first, and then the latch side of the closure 20 is lowered and the latch released to return to its normal latching position.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire/to secure by Letters Patent of the United States the following:

1. In a container having a radially disposed annular peripheral projection about its open upper end and a closure therefor having a depending annular skirt adapted to fit over said projection substantially as described, the improvement comprising a handle having a spaced integral upstanding wall formed at one end thereof and secured to said closure; a latch bar journaled in said wall for rectilinear movements radially of said closure and having an integral thumb button on the inner end thereof; a compression spring encircling said latch bar and disposed between said wall and said thumb button whereby to yieldably bias said latch :bar toward the center of said closure; a latch carried by said closure and alternately positionable in a latching position, wherein the latch is engaged under said projection, and an unlatching position, wherein the latch is removed from said engagement; said latch bar and latch being operably interconnected, whereby rectilinear movement of said latch bar imparts latching and unlatching movements to said latch;

and means on said closure opposed to said latch bar precluding axial movement of said closure from said container.

2. In a container having a radially disposed annular peripheral projection about its open upper end and a closure therefor having a handle and a depending annular skirt adapted to fit over said projection substantially as described, the improvement comprising an upstanding wall carried by said closure in adjacency to said handle; a latch bar journaled in said wall for rectilinear movements radially of said closure and biased toward the center of said closure; a latch carried by the said latch bar at its outer end in substantially parallel spaced relationship thereto; said latch bar extending beyond the circumference of said skirt and said latch extending inwardly of said skirt through an opening formed therein; a guard secured to the outer face of said skirt and disposed in spacedcovering relation to the outer ends of said latch bar and latch and constituting a stop to limit the outward rectilinear movement of said latch bar and latch; and means on said closure opposed to said latch for precluding axial movement of said closure from said container.

3. In a container having a radially disposed annular peripheral projection about its open upper end and a closure therefor having a depending annular skirt adapted to fit over said projection substantially as described, said closure having a handle centrally located on its upper face, the improvement comprising: a latch bar journaled for rectilinear movement radiallyv of such closure and having a thumb button on the inner end thereof disposed toward said handle; resilient means yieldably biasing said latch bar toward the center of said closure; a latch carried by said closure and alternately positionable in a latching position, wherein the latch is engaged under said projection, and an unlatching position wherein the latch is removed from said engagement; said latch bar and latch being operably interconnected, whereby rectilinear movement of said latch bar imparts latching and unlatching movements to said latch; and means on said closure opposed to said latch bar precluding axial movement of said closure from said container.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,008,625 Moulds July 16, 1935 2,654,623 Huggins Oct. 6, 1953 2,756,084 Fraser July 24, 1956 2,768,851 Gifford Oct. 30, 1956 2,835,407 Chambers May 20, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 88,747 Switzerland Aug. 1, 1921 417,906 Great Britain Oct. 15, 1934 

